Death Stranding 2: On the Beach grabbed the number one spot in the UK physical PS5 charts last week, knocking off the Switch 2 launch title Mario Kart World. However, its physical sales were down by a whopping 66% compared to the original Death Stranding. That sounds brutal, right? However, hang on, the gaming market has undergone significant changes since the first game was launched.
Physical boxed game sales in the UK have been shrinking rapidly. In fact, in 2024, they made up just 4% of all video game spending. Retailers barely stock new physical games anymore, so it’s kinda expected that physical sales for any title would face a steep drop.
Here’s the UK physical top ten for that week:
- Death Stranding 2: On the Beach
- Mario Kart World
- Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition
- Hogwarts Legacy
- Mario Kart 8 Deluxe
- Minecraft
- The Thing Remastered
- EA Sports FC 25
- The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt Game of the Year Edition
- Mortal Kombat 1
Interestingly, Death Stranding 2 also sold 33% fewer physical copies than last year’s Astro Bot, which was noted as being a more physical-heavy release. Additionally, the Deluxe Edition of Death Stranding 2, which included early access, was only available digitally, which affects physical sales numbers.
Checking out the UK PS Store, Kojima Productions’ latest is holding firm, second only to EA Sports FC 25 in best-sellers. Unfortunately, Sony doesn’t share much player data publicly, so we’re flying a bit blind on the full picture.
Death Stranding 2 was No.1 in the UK physical charts last week. Its launch sales were -66% lower than Death Stranding 1… but different eras. It's a far more digital market today. It's 33% lower than Astro Bot's launch, but that was also a physical heavy release, too.
— Christopher Dring (@Chris_Dring) June 29, 2025
